WASHINGTON - Verizon, the telecommunications company, has begun work on a $200 million investment to improve its broadband services in the Bay State.

It has started installing new digital subscriber lines in New Marlborough, said a company spokesman today.

Philip G. Santoro, the Verizon media relations officer in Boston, said that the company plans to bring broadband service to 23 communities in Western Massachusetts that now have no access, as well as doubling the download speed of its subscriber lines in 73 communities in the eastern part of the state.

The two projects will total $200 million, he said.

Santoro said the company aims to bring Internet services to the 23 area communities by the end of the year.

Santoro said that Verizon supports the effort of Gov. Deval L. Patrick to obtain $25 million in bonds to expand broadband services in the state.

The governor's proposal is pending in the state Legislature, but Santoro said that it is widely supported by the public and within the private market.

Representatives, including academicians, health care officials, and government officials of the four counties in Western Massachusetts are collaborating to bring broadband to the area.

Sharon F. Ferry, the business manager of Berkshire Connect Inc., is working with Pioneer Valley Connect to gather information about the challenges of bringing broadband services to remote and mountainous areas.

'A good start'

Ferry called Verizon's ongoing project in Western Massachusetts "a good start," but said that it will not handle all of the challenges of trying to hook up Western Massachusetts.

She said there is still a need for legislation that guarantees access to broadband services for all of the area.

Ferry's agency works with Jessica Atwood, the economic development planner for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, and Linda Dunlavy, co-chairwoman of the Pioneer Valley Connect Steering Committee and the John Adams Innovation Institute of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Together, these agencies are working with state legislators to get the region wired.

"Access to broadband is a necessity now and for the future," Atwood said. She noted that many areas of Western Massachusetts "don't have access to basic broadband or cable modem broadband."